What happened to the moratorium??

So, in theory there was a horse moratorium starting this spring.  In reality - not so much.  So what does my herd look like now.

Some things haven't changed

Gizmo continues to hang out with Debbie and Elena in Virginia. Elena did compete him a little bit this summer and is looking forward to a more active season with him in the coming year.  Meanwhile, both Debbie and Elena are spending time in the tack.

Keebler remains lucky and has nearly grown out of his "menace" moniker.  He and Jordan had a very successful fall season, finishing 4th, 3rd and 1st in their three events at training level.  Cyndi failed to blog. I'm looking forward to seeing them down in Florida.

Keegan will head to Florida at the end of the month and I'll be there on weekends to ride with Hilda Donahue.  I'm definitely hoping that Florida is warmer than Aiken last year and looking forward to seeing if I can continue to ride Keegan as well as he deserves at the preliminary level.

Finn is still (yes, really!) for sale.  He's with J.F. Gagne in Aiken and while everyone loves him, so far he is still mine.

Some things have

Solo was sold in March to a lovely adult jumper rider in NY (not too far from where I bought him).

Astro is leased to Kat Drake at Copper Meadows Farm in California.  They are getting on wonderfully and Kat is pretty good about sending updates.  I'm looking forward to hearing about their competition season and hoping that before another year passes, Astro will have his own person (possibly Kat).

Copper is now for sale.  She is another who has said dressage is good, jumpers are great, but eventing is only meh.  We've just started marketing her, so contact me or Rachel Gross at Blue Hill Farm if you are looking for a really lovely dressage or jumping horse.

And, then I defied the moratorium, not waiting for June, Finn or Astro to sell before jumping in and committing to buy a new one.  More on him to follow.  He is a 4 year old OTTB who looks surprisingly like Keegan.  Minimal racing and very well bred, plus ridiculously cute.

And in the not my horse news -

It is fabulous to be part of Caitlin Silliman's team as one of Hoku's syndicate members and as a syndicate owner of her new horse, the winner of the YEH 5 year old championship, Vagabon de Champdoux - although I hear that name may change. Super exciting to see what she does with this very cool youngster.  I find it even more exciting as he is an OTTB - although the track was in France.  http://sillimaneventing.com/owners/

Remi has moved on and is having quite an impressive career with Camilla, winning four training level events and then finishing 4th in the very competitive area 2 championship.

I remain part of the Ideal Contini Syndicate. Sally is fabulous about updates and really making her owners feel like part of the team http://sallycousins.com/sce-idealcontinisyndicate.html

Jollybo also is moving along and doing well. http://teamspuk.com/

While there isn't a specific horse named, I also recently joined the David Ziegler Equestrian team. David not only had a fabulous year, winning eventing gold and dressage silver at NAJYRC and sweeping the young rider division at Dressage at Devon, he is also a super young person, exactly the type of horseperson and human that we hope to see excel in the sport (even if he does compete for the wrong country).

So, I'm looking forward to enjoying my two guys this winter and following the exploits of the rest of them. May everyone enjoy their ponies and their riding in the new year and if you need a horse to help you do that, I've got at least three great ones for sale.